As Jewish and pro-Israel students grapple with the multifaceted challenges posed by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, influential current and former university administrators from the UA and Israel unpacked the nature of the BDS threat and potential solutions during a briefing hosted by the American Society of the University of Haifa this week in New York City.

Announcing AEN’s Guide and Resource Book for Faculty, campus updates, AEN member commentary on the events in Charlottesville, VA, and AEN Advisory Board members Scott Cowen and Mark Yudof on freedom of speech and expression on campus.

With the principal humanities academic organization in the US voting overwhelmingly to formally reject the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, a leading member of the anti-BDS effort welcomed the rejection of a “radical fringe” who had “hijacked the organization for partisan politics.”

Amidst the rancor of anti-Israel propaganda, Prager University is waging a digital war. If such battles are won by whopping numbers of online views alone, its strategy seems to be winning. But not everyone agrees.

Some professors fear a “chilling effect” on free speech and academic freedom after President Jane Close Conoley made a statement to the campus opposing the Associated Students, Inc. resolution to divest in Israel, prompting several response letters from legal organizations, professors and the California Faculty Association.

In our second podcast, AEN Senior Research Associate Linda Maizels interviews Cary Nelson, Jubilee Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. This podcast, excerpted from an earlier conversation, refers to the publication of Nelson’s book, co-edited with Gabriel Brahm: The Case Against Academic Boycotts of Israel. Special thanks to the Israel Action Network (IAN), a joint project of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), for their assistance with this recording.

For another look at Cary Nelson’s work, click Cary Nelson pamphlet to read a pamphlet, entitled “Conspiracy Pedagogy on Campus: BDS Advocacy and Academic Freedom,” taken from Nelson’s keynote presentation at AEN’s first National Conference.

AEN’s second pamphlet, “Conspiracy Pedagogy on Campus: BDS Advocacy and Academic Freedom,” is adapted from a keynote presentation at AEN’s first national conference by Cary Nelson, Jubilee Professor Emeritus of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Nelson’s pamphlet criticizes the “political corruption” of some humanities and social science disciplines that have elevated the rationale behind the BDS movement to an incontrovertible truth.